Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Aides to Yoon, Moon agree on budget for presidential office relocation
Ministry of National Defense headquarters in Yongsan District, Seoul / Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Nam Hyun-woo
Aides to President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and President Moon Jae-in have reached a temporary agreement on Yoon's plan to relocate the presidential office to the defense ministry compound, with his team seeking government approval for more than 30 billion won ($24.6 million) out of the 49.6 billion won total cost.
According to multiple sources, Sunday, senior presidential secretary for political affairs Lee Cheol-hee and Yoon's Chief of Staff Rep. Chang Je-won have agreed on moving a number of branches of the Ministry of National Defense that do not participate in upcoming Korea-U.S. joint military exercises to the nearby Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) building first, to provide enough room to set up the new presidential office at the ministry's headquarters in Seoul's Yongsan District.
Last month, Yoon announced his plan to relocate the presidential office to the defense ministry headquarters and begin his presidency in the new office. To make room, the president-elect sought to move the defense ministry to the JCS building, and relocate some branches of the JCS to other buildings in the compound.
This, however, has faced opposition from President Moon, who expressed concern that a “security vacuum” would likely occur during the relocation. In addition, Moon dismissed Yoon's request for Cabinet approval on financing the 49.6 billion won relocation cost from the state reserve fund.
After weeks of conflicts, the two sides reportedly have reached a middle ground, by moving some of the defense ministry branches first. Since the annual Korea-U.S. joint military exercises are scheduled for April 12 to 28, relocation of the JCS branches was not included in the agreement, according to sources from Yoon's presidential office relocation team.
Against this backdrop, the relocation team has requested Cabinet approval on a new budget, excluding the costs for relocating the various JCS branches. Since Yoon assumes that the costs for moving the JCS will stand at 11.8 billion won, the new budget is anticipated to be between 30 billion won and 37 billion won.
The new budget can be approved as early as Tuesday when Moon will hold a Cabinet meeting, but uncertainty remains because Moon has already said during his meeting with Yoon on March 28 that he would “have a thorough review of the budget.”
Regardless of the budget, chances are slim for Yoon to keep his pledge to start his presidency on May 10 at the new presidential office due to time constraints.
“Even if we are budgeted more than 30 billion won, it has already became difficult to start the presidency on May 10 at the new office,” a relocation team official told Yonhap News Agency. Yoon is expected to use his presidential transition committee office in Tongui-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, until the new office is ready.